Female Condom

By Joe Graedon and Dr. Teresa Graedon and Joe Graedon and Dr. Teresa Graedon,King Features Syndicate | January 3, 1995

Q: I have been reading about the female condom in magazines and wonder if it might be worth trying. I can't take birth control pills because I've had thrombophlebitis. My husband and I have used foam and condoms but he complains that they interfere with sensation.The female condom looks clunky and I don't want to waste money if it offers no advantage. Does it have the same drawbacks as the male condom?A: Contraception is such a personal matter that we can't predict how you will like the female condom.

A female condom program was highly effective in preventing HIV infections, according to a new economic analysis by researchers in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health . The analysis, published in the journal AIDS and Behavior , found the DC Females Condom program, a public-private partnership to provide and promote a type of female condom, prevent enough infections in one year to save more than $8 million in future medical care...

Women and their partners have at their disposal a number of safe, effective choices for birth control. Now there is another option to add to the list, one that provides several new features to help give women control over sexually transmitted diseases and reproduction through a nonprescription, simple-to-use device.The female condom, a barrier method to prevent pregnancy and disease, now is available in the United States, although distribution still is somewhat limited. Some family clinics are selling the device, which has been tested by 1,700 women in 30 countries.

By Joe Graedon and Dr. Teresa Graedon and Joe Graedon and Dr. Teresa Graedon,King Features Syndicate | January 3, 1995

Q: I have been reading about the female condom in magazines and wonder if it might be worth trying. I can't take birth control pills because I've had thrombophlebitis. My husband and I have used foam and condoms but he complains that they interfere with sensation.The female condom looks clunky and I don't want to waste money if it offers no advantage. Does it have the same drawbacks as the male condom?A: Contraception is such a personal matter that we can't predict how you will like the female condom.

It may seem like a relatively cumbersome and expensive product. In fact, the whole idea may be difficult to get used to.But by the end of the year drugstores may stock the latest in armor against unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS: A sheath-style prophylactic women can wear.Wisconsin firm is asking the federal Food and Drug Administration to let it begin selling the product in this country, perhaps as early as this fall. An FDA advisory panel will meet in Rockville Friday to consider the request.

It looks odd and even its supporters concede it takes some getting used to, but the first condom designed to be worn by women is about to go on the world market.In clinical trials, the new condom, also known as a vaginal pouch, appears to be far more effective than male condoms in protecting women from sexually transmitted diseases, while offering roughly equivalent protection against pregnancy."The idea of trying to get [some] men to wear a condom is impossible, and women are unfairly being put in the most vulnerable position," said Dr. Mervyn Silverman, president of the American Foundation for AIDS Research and a consultant to the company developing the device.

IT MAY SEEM like a relatively cumbersome and expensive product. In fact, the whole idea may be difficult to get used to.But by the end of the year drugstores may stock the latest in armor against unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS: A sheath-style prophylactic women can wear.A Wisconsin firm is asking the federal Food and Drug Administration to let it begin selling the product in this country, perhaps as early as this fall. An FDA advisory panel will meet in Rockville Friday to consider the request.

Nearly six years in the making, the new "female condom" has arrived. And while women aren't necessarily beating down the doors of area health centers to get a sample of the new device, interest is steadily growing.Planned Parenthood of Maryland's Howard Street office has sold out of its first batch of condoms. And in Harford County, AIDS educator Barbara Hernan-Clark has had little trouble rustling up an audience at county health department clinics in recent weeks for a sneak preview of the device that's been touted as protection against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

By Joe Graedon and Dr. Teresa Graedon and Joe Graedon and Dr. Teresa Graedon,King Features Syndicate | July 19, 1994

One way to avoid AIDS is not have sex. Abstinence is guaranteed to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.So DON'T DO IT!Of course we recognize that such advice may not be followed, especially by young adults who believe they will live forever no matter what they do. Our fallback position is USE A CONDOM!Unfortunately, too many people are not following either suggestion. Condom sales are flat, despite ad campaigns to encourage their use.After years of resistance, network television finally allowed condoms out of the closet and onto prime time.

New York --One man announces that he wants to marry her. "Who are you? No, really, who are you?" he persists, proceeding to tell her who he is. As if she cares. Another man comes by to enthuse about . . . her writing. This is in a nice bar, dark and downtown, of cool-once-again martinis and the drift of an occasional Euro accent, and these are men who appear to be on dates with other women.This is the kind of thing that happens when you're Anka, soon if not already famous enough to drop the Radakovich part and go single-label like Cher or Madonna.

Women and their partners have at their disposal a number of safe, effective choices for birth control. Now there is another option to add to the list, one that provides several new features to help give women control over sexually transmitted diseases and reproduction through a nonprescription, simple-to-use device.The female condom, a barrier method to prevent pregnancy and disease, now is available in the United States, although distribution still is somewhat limited. Some family clinics are selling the device, which has been tested by 1,700 women in 30 countries.

By Joe Graedon and Dr. Teresa Graedon and Joe Graedon and Dr. Teresa Graedon,King Features Syndicate | July 19, 1994

One way to avoid AIDS is not have sex. Abstinence is guaranteed to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.So DON'T DO IT!Of course we recognize that such advice may not be followed, especially by young adults who believe they will live forever no matter what they do. Our fallback position is USE A CONDOM!Unfortunately, too many people are not following either suggestion. Condom sales are flat, despite ad campaigns to encourage their use.After years of resistance, network television finally allowed condoms out of the closet and onto prime time.

New York --One man announces that he wants to marry her. "Who are you? No, really, who are you?" he persists, proceeding to tell her who he is. As if she cares. Another man comes by to enthuse about . . . her writing. This is in a nice bar, dark and downtown, of cool-once-again martinis and the drift of an occasional Euro accent, and these are men who appear to be on dates with other women.This is the kind of thing that happens when you're Anka, soon if not already famous enough to drop the Radakovich part and go single-label like Cher or Madonna.

Nearly six years in the making, the new "female condom" has arrived. And while women aren't necessarily beating down the doors of area health centers to get a sample of the new device, interest is steadily growing.Planned Parenthood of Maryland's Howard Street office has sold out of its first batch of condoms. And in Harford County, AIDS educator Barbara Hernan-Clark has had little trouble rustling up an audience at county health department clinics in recent weeks for a sneak preview of the device that's been touted as protection against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

WASHINGTON -- A federal advisory panel recommended yesterday the approval of a condom designed for women -- a device that for the first time will allow women to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases in the deadly age of AIDS.If the condom gets final approval by the Food and Drug Administration, a woman will no longer "have to negotiate with a man or be dependent on a man . . . for protecting her," said Dr. Mervyn F. Silverman, president of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, who has served as a consultant to the manufacturer.

It may seem like a relatively cumbersome and expensive product. In fact, the whole idea may be difficult to get used to.But by the end of the year drugstores may stock the latest in armor against unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS: A sheath-style prophylactic women can wear.Wisconsin firm is asking the federal Food and Drug Administration to let it begin selling the product in this country, perhaps as early as this fall. An FDA advisory panel will meet in Rockville Friday to consider the request.

A female condom program was highly effective in preventing HIV infections, according to a new economic analysis by researchers in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health . The analysis, published in the journal AIDS and Behavior , found the DC Females Condom program, a public-private partnership to provide and promote a type of female condom, prevent enough infections in one year to save more than $8 million in future medical care...

WASHINGTON -- A federal advisory panel recommended yesterday the approval of a condom designed for women -- a device that for the first time will allow women to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases in the deadly age of AIDS.If the condom gets final approval by the Food and Drug Administration, a woman will no longer "have to negotiate with a man or be dependent on a man . . . for protecting her," said Dr. Mervyn F. Silverman, president of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, who has served as a consultant to the manufacturer.

IT MAY SEEM like a relatively cumbersome and expensive product. In fact, the whole idea may be difficult to get used to.But by the end of the year drugstores may stock the latest in armor against unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS: A sheath-style prophylactic women can wear.A Wisconsin firm is asking the federal Food and Drug Administration to let it begin selling the product in this country, perhaps as early as this fall. An FDA advisory panel will meet in Rockville Friday to consider the request.

It looks odd and even its supporters concede it takes some getting used to, but the first condom designed to be worn by women is about to go on the world market.In clinical trials, the new condom, also known as a vaginal pouch, appears to be far more effective than male condoms in protecting women from sexually transmitted diseases, while offering roughly equivalent protection against pregnancy."The idea of trying to get [some] men to wear a condom is impossible, and women are unfairly being put in the most vulnerable position," said Dr. Mervyn Silverman, president of the American Foundation for AIDS Research and a consultant to the company developing the device.